What Is Wyrd, Anyway?

Historically, Wyrd is the Nordic version of the common myths about the 'Three Sisters of Fate'. There are some crucial differences, though, in the ideas underlying wyrd and fate: unlike the Fates, our Wyrd always offers us a choice - but there's always a twist!

Ever wondered why the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth are referred to as 'three Weird Sisters'? It's not just that they're... well... weird, but that they are 'the wyrd', the personification of those strange twists in our mortal lives. The old Nordic myths of wyrd may seem strange at times, but they can give us a new - and very useful - understanding of our own everyday world.

Wyrd is more than a myth, though: it's something that is very real, and - if we can develop our own wyrd mind - it's something we can use to help us create our own place within the world. Understanding how we interact with 'the weavings of the wyrd' can make a big difference...

Wyrd is pronounced the same as 'weird' - which is hardly surprising, since in linguistic terms they're the essentially same word. One of the simplest ways to understand how wyrd works in our lives is to recognise that weird is a noun - not an adjective. It's amazing just how much difference that one small change can make... try it for yourself!